Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Fledgling flies like a champ – June 15th, 2016

The fledgling is doing great. I followed it around the park for a few hours today and saw it fly great distances a few times.

I saw Sadie being followed by a Mockingbird when I first arrived at the park. She was probably leading it away from the fledgling and park:

A fellow Hawk-watcher first spotted the fledgling this morning. It was sitting atop Judson Memorial Church:

It began to play-fly as if in a jungle gym:

Contented rustle:

It still has remnants of gaps in its wings but they are filling in great and don’t impede the fledgling’s flights as you’ll soon see:

We watched as it made another leap toward the grey structure and were awed to see it continue flying.

Look at it go!

It flew past the west side of the park and landed on the building at the southwest corner outside the park:

It took another mighty leap and flew back to the church:

One of the parents flew to the cross as well. A Mockingbird dive-bombed it a few times while the fledgling watched:

The parent left the cross after several minutes. I turned around and noticed an adult Hawk on NYU’s Silver Center:

I noticed it had gone after a few minutes.

The fledgling tucked into the base of the cross for an hour and a half. It reminded me of Pip and how she did likewise five years ago.

The fledgling stared ahead and flew straight to Silver (crossing the park square and east side!):

It had a little bit of a rough landing though:

Talon caught on the sash for a second:

Bobby landed right above the fledgling and hung around for a while:

The fledgling plopped down to rest. The worker in the office didn’t even notice it:

Bobby flew off and headed south:

The fledgling at the window:

Bobby returned to the park toting a bird:

He took it to one of the Education Building’s antennas:

Sadie rushed to the food and took it over while Bobby flew west:

She took the food away but I didn’t see where she went. I think she ducked down toward the back of the Education Building.

The fledgling began to walk along the ledge and peek into different windows:

It broke into a little trot:

It eventually plopped down low again to rest. I had been at the park for nearly five hours so I tore myself away.

I spotted Sadie atop a water tower a block south of the park:

A fellow Hawk-watcher visited the park after work and saw the fledgling atop Pless (a building closest to the one I last saw the fledgling on). It was doing well. Sadie was seen near the fledgling so it’s clear the fledgling is being closely watched over.


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